trail mix oat bites

trail mix oat bites

So yeah, these look a lot more healthy than most–um, all–of what you find here. And sure, these trail mix oat bites (that’s the best title I could think of) have rolled oats, coconut flour, wheat germ, and dried fruits and nuts and make a great fill-you-up-and-give-you-energy snack, but they also have a bit of sugar, maple syrup and butter. So please don’t desert me. There’s a little bit of me left in there. And if they weren’t so crumbly I’d have put them on a stick.

I’ve been really into homemade granola bars lately. I find being home all day I put my hand in the snack drawer a lot. Yes, we have a snack drawer. You see, when we bought our 1930s house, it came equipped with the original 1930s, totally not functioning, kitchen. And so we had to do a quick renovation so as to stop washing dishes in a bucket. I casually pointed out to our semi-custom cabinet dude how cool it was that the original kitchen had a bread drawer. My grandmother had one of those. You know, those drawers you pull out that have the metal lid? So semi-custom cabinet dude gave us a big drawer. He called it the “bread drawer.” He was so proud. He was so proud I did not point out that this big drawer had no similarities to an actual bread drawer. I use it for snacks. And I eat a LOT of snacks, so I’ve been seeking something more substantial than Goldfish. I mean, at least something that has vitamins. Plus, I’m not really a raw veggie snacker. (Seriously? How do people find that fulfilling?) So granola bars it is.

For these, I started out with THIS RECIPE for granola bars from SMITTEN KITCHEN. I made them in bar form and yum. They were good. So I added some more of some stuff, added less of some other stuff, and substituted different things to come up with a bite-size version of the bar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix everything together well. I used my hands to mix when the spatula could do no more. Take a bit and form a clump with your hands. Don’t try and roll a ball, these are too crumbly. Just use your fingers to make an imperfect sphere 1 1/2 inches in diameter. If necessary, add a bit more of a wet ingredient (butter, syrup, water or nut butter). Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake 20 minutes or until they begin to brown. Let cool totally before eating. Makes about 36 bites.

trail mix oat bites

Healthy trail mix oat bites for an energy-filled snack.

Ingredients

1 2/3 cup quick rolled oats

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 1/2 cups coarsely chopped trail mix (I used a cranberry nut mix)

2/3 cups nut butter (I used almond)

6 tablespoons melted butter

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix everything together well. I used my hands to mix when the spatula could do no more. Take a bit and form a clump with your hands. Don't try and roll a ball, these are too crumbly. Just use your fingers to make an imperfect sphere 1 1/2 inches in diameter. If necessary, add a bit more of a wet ingredient (butter, syrup, water or nut butter). Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake 20 minutes or until they begin to brown. Let cool totally before eating. Makes about 36 bites.

Brenda, this is a pretty user friendly recipe, so anything comparable can be replaced! I actually found coconut flour in the natural food aisle of my (new and approved) Giant, but Smitten Kitchen used oat flour instead, or as an alternative, she suggests ground oats from the food processor. I think I was looking for oat flour, couldn’t find it and tried coconut flour.